DENVER — Dylan McBride, Caleb Cox and Wyatt Pfau will all be wrestling for a state championship on Saturday in the 2018 state wrestling tournament at the Pepsi Center.

All three were victorious in their semifinal matches Friday night and advanced in style.

Punching the first ticket to the finals was Cox at 126 pounds. Facing Lucas Comroe of Eagle Valley, the match was a low-scoring affair with little offense produced. Cox scored the lone takedown of the match in the first period when he shot for the ankle, brought down Comroe, and then took his back. Comroe would escape to neutral position in the first and second period to tie the match at 2-2 heading into the third period.

Cox started from bottom position in the third period and escaped in the first 10 seconds to retake the lead 3-2. Neither wrestler was able to set up a shot attempt to score a takedown most of the period. Comroe did get a lock on Cox and threw him to the mat, only to see Cox saved by the bell to hang on for the 3-2 decision win. It will be the second trip to the finals for Cox.

Getting the upset of the tournament so far was Pfau in the semifinals against an undefeated Jaziah Whaley of Valley. Their match had a high number of stoppages due to blood time for Whaley in the second period. When the match was not stopped regularly, it saw a grappling dual with unique moves on the mats.

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Whaley scored the first takedown and led 2-1 going into the second period. He chose to start in bottom position in the second period, but Pfau managed to keep him down and prevent him from scoring. Getting an escape in the third period was Pfau to tie the match.

With seconds to spare, Pfau scored the decisive takedown at the edge of the mat. He did hurt his ankle in the process but toughed out the final seven seconds and held on to win by decision 4-2.

McBride would win in emphatic fashion for Fort Morgan over Cian Quiroga of Cheyenne Mountain to reach his first state championship match. A takedown in the first period put him on the board 2-0 and he escaped to neutral position to lead 3-0 going into the third. There, he escaped again from bottom position and quickly turned around for a big takedown. The takedown kept him in the mat along the edge of the circle, where he would hang on top to win by fall in 4:25.

Brush junior Wyatt Pfau hangs on to the back of Valley's Jaziah Whaley in their semifinal match in the 2018 state wrestling tournament on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018 at Pepsi Center. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

In the finals, McBride will face Braden Barker of Mountain View for the second time in a week. The two meet in the regional tournament on Feb. 10, where McBride won. They also wrestled at a tournament during the regular season with McBride winning there as well. Cox will face Joe Chavez of Alamosa, the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Chavez had won twice by technical fall and once by decision in the state tournament. Brush hopes that Pfau's ankle will be healed up for him to be at full strength in the finals against Reis Martinez of Alamosa.

The Parade of Champions for all the finalists will begin the final session of the state wrestling tournament at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

The rest of the semifinal matches Friday night included two wrestlers from Wiggins and another from Brush.

Marc Barkdoll started well for Wiggins against No. 1 seed Max Salazar of Sanford with two takedowns in the first period. When Salazar escaped for the second time in the match, he was able to get his first takedown in the second period. His takedown put him in good position to secure a pin and he was able to do so at the 3:41 mark.

The other athlete competing for Wiggins was Cael Croissant at 126 pounds. He fell behind early 7-0 against No. 1 seed Sean Dale of Cedaredge and struggled early. By the time he found some points late in the match, the lead was too big to overcome and he went on to lose by majority decision 17-7.

Oswaldo Nunez had a rematch with Ariel Rodriguez of Eaton from the regional tournament in his semifinal match for Brush. Nunez began with the lead on an early takedown but fell behind 4-2. A reversal and near fall looked to swing momentum in his favor, but only for a brief period of time. Rodriguez escaped and scored a big takedown to regain the lead. Tied 7-7 in the third period, he would then score a takedown and two back points in the final minute to defeat Nunez by decision 11-7.

The wrestlers that fell in the semifinals will move to the consolation semifinals Saturday morning, where they will wrestle for a spot in either the third-place match or fifth-place match. Consolation matches kick off day three of the state tournament at 10 a.m.

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